The Chinese company, which is planning to expand abroad, paid Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to appear on Sunday in front of reporters at its headquarters in Beijing. Mr. Wozniak showed up at the event–labeled as the “Lei Jun & Woz Tech Talk”–with Xiaomi’s founder and chairman, Lei Jun, and told reporters that Xiaomi’s products were “excellent” and “good enough to crack the American market.”

Mr. Wozniak said he was given Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 3 smartphone to test. He also received a demonstration of Xiaomi’s new Mi Wi-Fi router, which comes in a do-it-yourself kit that requires consumers to assemble the device themselves. Mr. Wozniak was later given the kit as a gift, which comes in an elegant wooden box, with his birthdate engraved on it.

“I’m playing with mine. I like it so far, and I’ll tell you if I have problems,” he told reporters. Mr. Wozniak didn’t disclose how much he was paid for the appearance, but said he only nets 20% of his original fee. In fact, he said that 15% of his fee goes to a co-broker, 12.5% goes to his agent, 37% is paid in U.S. government taxes and 13% goes to California state taxes. “I do not do this for money,” he said. “If I find things I don’t like about the Mi 3, I’ll tell them.”

Xiaomi’s corporate culture and rapid ascent has invited some comparisons to Apple. Like the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Xiaomi’s chairman sports dark shirts and presides over high-profile product releases. As part of efforts to expand overseas,

“A lot of our brain power comes from China,” he said. “We’ve needed these elements that have come from Asia for so long.”

Mr. Wozniak said he noticed that Singapore is changing. “They actually have quite a bit of great hardware development, and so they have very talented people. They have people that are thinking very much like Xiaomi thinks,” he said.

Finally Mr. Wozniak said he “would love to live” in Beijing. “It’s a very comfortable place for Americans … I want to shop in the little stores that are building components and parts, and plugging in phones and reprogramming them. I love that world — it’s certainly where I started.”